


Five Minutes of Shuteye

by jojohere



Category: Shall We Date?: Obey Me!
Genre: Emotionally Repressed, Gen, Intrusive Thoughts, Reader Insert, Reader-Insert, Sleep Deprivation, Stress
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-23
Updated: 2020-06-23
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:09:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24875176
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jojohere/pseuds/jojohere
Summary: Surviving the day was easier said than done.Lethargy consumes your body as you rest your head against the open textbook. You can feel your head swimming with the remnants of the Magic Theory lesson that was just discussed. Your lecture notes probably looked like a mess of chicken scratch and squiggles, rewriting them was going to be a pain later. Not to mention, you had to write a thousand-word comparative essay about the local flora and fauna for Biology, and your Devildom History professor assigned a thirty-page reading which was going to be the basis for tomorrow’s lecture.Behind your eyes, you can feel the beginnings of a headache making itself known. You squeeze your eyes tightly, trying to will the pain away. Maybe a few seconds of shuteye would help ease it—“MC? Are you okay?” Simeon asks from behind you. His gentle and melodic voice cutting through the noisy buzz of your thoughts.
Relationships: Simeon (Shall We Date?: Obey Me!) & Reader
Comments: 8
Kudos: 117





	Five Minutes of Shuteye

**Author's Note:**

> this is kinda connected to 'Insomnia Leads to More Insomnia and Thinly Veiled Threats' but it can be read as a standalone.

“Darling, you look terrible.”

“Well, good morning to you too, Asmo,” You greet back as you scoot your chair closer to the dining table. Your eyes scan the food laid out on the table before you grab the most “safe-looking” food for your plate.

“Did you get any sleep last night?” Satan asks.

“I got a healthy twenty-nine minutes of sleep,” You chirp in reply.

“That’s not enough,” Beel chimes in, his low voice taking you a bit by surprise.

Asmo nods, before gesturing to himself with a flourish, “He’s right. You should make sure to get at least eight hours of sleep every night. Like me~”

 _Do demons really need sleep to function?_ Your mind wonders.

“Don’t worry, sleep is easy to catch up on. Beel, could you pass me the coffeepot, please?” Your hand makes grabby motions.

Beel passes it to you and you pour until you reach the brim of the mug, while simultaneously dumping in an exorbitant amount of sugar with your other hand.

Satan grimaces as you raise the mug to your lips and down half of its contents.

The utensils in your hand clink against the plate as you start digging into your food, occasionally joining in the idle conversation between the brothers. The pesky thoughts that kept you up all night float away as you step into your role as the kind-of-awkward-yet-kind-of-sociable exchange student.

Laugh at a joke or funny anecdote, no matter how gruesome the details may get, deflect any intrusive questions about your adjustment, give vague answers about your home life back in the human world, _don't_ question the whereabouts of the missing seventh brother (that was a mistake you were definitely _not_ going to repeat), and most importantly, don’t complain about anything. Joking was fine though. Jokes were always fine, no matter the situation.

You stab at a piece of meat, thinking that it would be better to shelve these thoughts for the time being. Better to focus on what to expect for today, you remind yourself.

Speaking of today’s tasks…

You eye the empty chair at the head of the table, guessing that the occupant left early for student council duties.

 _What a workaholic_ , you think as you pour your second mug of coffee.

The door to the dining room bursts open with a loud bang, “Human! Can ya eat any slower?” Mammon says as he swipes food from the table, choosing not to take a seat.

“Wait, my coffee—” You protest, hoping that you would at least get to finish drinking it.

“Time is money and we’re wasting it, get a move on!” And with a hastily made sandwich, he’s out the door.

“You could always walk to RAD with us instead of our brute of a brother, darling,” Asmo offers with a cheeky grin. His words and smile may be friendly, but there’s something behind his eyes that makes you quickly scoot your chair back, grab your bag, and decline his offer with an awkward laugh as you hurry after Mammon.

And it wasn’t just with Asmodeus, but with the other brothers too. There was always a hint of something hidden underneath their friendly demeanor. Something primal and dangerous. Something patiently waiting for you to put down your guard.

The practice of putting up a façade made it easy to see when others were doing the same.

…

Surviving the day was easier said than done.

Lethargy consumes your body as you rest your head against the open textbook. You can feel your head swimming with the remnants of the Magic Theory lesson that was just discussed. Your lecture notes probably looked like a mess of chicken scratch and squiggles, rewriting them was going to be a _pain_ later. Not to mention, you had to write a thousand-word comparative essay about the local flora and fauna for Biology, and your Devildom History professor assigned a thirty-page reading which was going to be the basis for tomorrow’s lecture.

Behind your eyes, you can feel the beginnings of a headache making itself known. You squeeze your eyes tightly, trying to will the pain away. Maybe a few seconds of shuteye would help ease it—

“MC? Are you okay?” Simeon asks from behind you. His gentle and melodic voice cutting through the noisy buzz of your thoughts.

You peel your face away from the textbook and give him a weary smile. “Yep! Just a little bit tired,” you answer. The world leans sideways from your action and you prop your head up against the back of the chair with your arm to keep from falling down.

“Are any of the brothers not around?” A quick glance around the classroom confirms that the room was empty except for the two of you. That meant Mammon ditched you. _Again._

You sigh in exasperation before asking, “Would it be okay if I had lunch with you? I can pay for my own.”

“Of course, you don’t have to ask every time, MC,” he replies.

“I’m just making sure!” You shove your things into your bag without caring to organize them. You sling the straps of your bag over your shoulder and go to walk alongside the angel, with your lethargy momentarily forgotten and a lightness in your body putting an extra skip in your step. Wait, the more you thought about it, it was probably because you were feeling slightly light-headed. Your steps slow to match Simeon’s relaxed pace.

Ever since the start of the exchange program, you found that you were a lot more relaxed around the students from the Celestial Realm. Maybe it was the part of you that was taught angel-good and demon-bad, or maybe it was because you often found yourself in these moments where you had no one else but the Purgatory Hall students as companions. Either way, you were grateful for their friendship in this whimsical magical realm.

While they had their hospitable moments like earlier this morning, the demon brothers were usually indifferent or somewhat hostile towards you, and interacting with the other human exchange student, Solomon, felt like you were interacting with a demon rather than a human, you felt most at ease with Luke and Simeon.

Walking through the hallways at RAD felt less perturbing when you were accompanied by the angels. You’ve heard Mammon complain about them being too bright or something? Maybe it was a demon thing. Maybe all demons were extra sensitive to light? Was being in the presence of an angel a natural demon deterrent? As long as you didn’t have to deal with the piercing stares of the other students at RAD, you didn’t have to question it. Without the persistent fear of getting eaten alive, you could focus on other things.

Like the conversation you just zoned out on.

“Are you really sure you’re okay, MC?” Simeon stops walking, one hand gently resting on his hip as he turns to you.

“Yeah! I’m sorry, what were you saying?” Nausea settles back in as you also stop walking. You shift your weight to rest on your right leg.

A flicker of concern washes over his features, “Do you want to sit down for a bit?”

“I—” A twinge of pain behind your eyes makes your words catch in your throat before you can dismiss his worries, “—would it be okay if we did?”

Stepping into the courtyard, you both find a bench in a mostly secluded area. There aren’t many students around, probably because it was lunchtime.

You let out a relieved sigh as you plop down, setting your bag on the ground. Simeon does the same and sits beside you.

A gentle breeze blows past, your close your eyes, enjoying the coolness on your face.

“You’ve been looking very tired. Did you get any sleep last night?” He says with worry evident in his tone.

You don’t want to answer truthfully, but you do anyway. “...Twenty-nine minutes of sleep is enough, isn’t it?” You ask, sheepish.

He shakes his head, “No, I am afraid that’s not enough,”

You roll your eyes exaggeratedly, while groaning, “Ugh… I’m not a little kid though…”

Simeon’s face turns serious, “There’s nothing childish about taking care of yourself,” he reminds you.

The joke on the tip of your tongue disappears as you take in his words, turning them over and cutting them open. Why would he say that? It’s probably in his nature as an angel. Or it’s just because he’s polite and nice. Was your exhaustion really clear on your face? Your thinking shoots off into two, three, and then five trains of what-ifs, thoughts muddling together into one big convoluted mess with separate parts yelling over one another, paralyzing you in place.

It feels like hours when only a few seconds have elapsed.

“MC?”

All your earlier tactics from breakfast fly out the window and your façade slips. The stream of thoughts cuts off and your body moves closer to him. You lean forward and press your head against his shoulder.

You can feel him tense up. “What’s wrong, MC?” He asks.

“Can…can I nap here for a bit? At least…for five minutes?” You can’t bring yourself to meet his eyes.

There’s a pause until you feel his hands grasp your shoulders. Gentle. As if you’re made of glass. They guide you to lay your head down on his lap.

Above you, you can hear him clear his throat, trying to compose himself, “Is… is this comfortable?”

You nod, not trusting your voice, and close your eyes. Breathe in, breathe out. It hasn’t really settled in just how tired you were until this moment. The sheer fatigue from the almost all-nighter and today’s classes tugs at your consciousness, willing you to sleep.

If this were any normal day, you would’ve gotten flustered at how close you were to Simeon, but this was not any normal day. Then again, life in the Devildom was something far from normal, even with the if the demons brothers tried to make it seem somewhat normal, the fact that you were the only one out of two humans in the school, that the sky was perpetually dark, that nearly every demon you’ve come across has threatened to take your soul, all these little things snowballed together to destroy the normal you built up for the past month—

A gentle hand runs its fingers through your hair.

You didn’t realize you had been crying, your shoulders trembled as you held in the urge to sob. You reach a hand up to wipe away the tears from your eyes.

“Do you want to talk about it, MC?” Simeon’s voice is so, so gentle and inviting and kind. And you almost feel like you want to pour out all of your worries, let it spill out before it drowned you.

No. You couldn’t. There was too much to unpack and unload. Too much. Too much to unravel and deal with. You shake your head, willing your voice to stay steady as you ask, “Could you do...some magic pain away thing, please?”

Simeon obliges and you feel your mind’s worries dissipate along with the cooling relief spreading through your head. Finally free from the hold of insomnia, your breaths even out, and you finally sleep.

For now, at least. It’s a short, but welcome reprieve and you can deal with everything afterward when you wake up.

**Author's Note:**

> maybe i should group these oneshots into a series, self-projecting into my writing is very addicting.
> 
> leave a kudos/comment if you liked it :D
> 
> edit: fixed a few mistakes


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